In the autumn of 1988 I visited Yellowstone National Park. There were huge fires in the park at that time. There was great controversy about whether the Forestry Service should have made more effort to put the fires out before they became so widespread. The Forestry Service was of the view that forest fires are a natural and essential part of the life of a forest. I am aware that some species, such as the lodgepole pine, need periodic fires to crack open seed cases. Plus periodic burns are less damaging than infrequent ones because they remove the “fuel”.
I have a lot of sympathy for the FS’s view. On the same vacation, I walked through an area that had burned maybe 5 - 10 years previously. It was teeming with life - plants, saplings, birds, deer, rabbits and more. In contrast, few places are more apparently lifeless than a mature conifer forest - the forest floor is too dark to sustain much life.
So, what is it like in Yellowstone now, in the areas that were ravaged by fire?
I was there last summer. You can still see many areas where the trees were destroyed but by now new trees and shrubs are coming up. There was plenty of wildlife–mainly bison and elk but also bears, moose, and various small mammals such as coyotes, badgers, mink, and chipmunks. Birds we saw included ravens, magpies, gulls, swans, tanagers, and ospreys. The ospreys can be seen fishing in the rivers and even have built a nest in a tree close to one of the roads leading through the geyser area. (And as far as the geysers are concerned, huge crowds of people from all over the world still surround Old Faithful waiting for it to go off.)
There is a wolf pack in the Lamar Valley area of the park but we didn’t see it; some of the wolves have apparently made their way down to the Grand Tetons National Park but their numbers are pretty low.
It is natural. It is a bit unsettling to see, though.
There have been fires in Yosemite National Park as well. A few years ago when I was there they were a bit scary, in fact. I think the Park Service was trying to control the fires, but really, they can only do so much.
Yosemite looks just fine as well, but there is this stretch of “dead trees” (I call it the “Tree Graveyard”) when you drive up to the Valley on Highway 41. It’ll be there for a long time, I think.
I was out there just a couple of weeks ago. The burned areas can’t really detract from the scenery and wildlife that attract so many visitors. However, I’m glad that I was able to tour the areas on the eastern side before they were closed down due to the current fires. This visit was also my first time out in the Cooke City/Beartooth Hwy area…wow!
I was there in the summer of 88. I was 12 years old on vacation with my familiy. I remember having to use headlights all day long because the air was so thick with smoke.
Hopefully, in the future they will allow smaller fires to burn every so often and not let the dead wood pile up until a situation like that is created. Fires are natural. We can’t stop them forever, so we should just let them happen. (As long as they aren’t near any houses, of course).